3 Shreveport-area health systems in new cancer treatment network

The state will spend $25.5 million on improvements at LSU Health’s Feist-Weiller Cancer Research Center. File/The Times -
-The Feist Weiller Cancer Center at LSU Health Science Center is nearing completion as finishing touches are being added to the new building. Greg Pearson/The Times 10.05.04(Photo: Greg Pearson, Copyright 2004 The Times Shreveport)

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Expanded access to clinical trials for minority and underserved patients.

LSU Health Shreveport's Feist-Weiller Cancer Center will be part of a new network that gives minority and low-income patients a better shot at potentially life-saving new cancer treatments.

Willis-Knighton Health System and DeSoto Regional Medical Center in Mansfield also will be part of the Gulf South Minority/Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) network.

A $5.6 million National Cancer Institute grant will fund the network, which will cover 80 percent of Louisiana and some of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, LSU Health Shreveport and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center applied for the grant jointly. The award among 12 of its kind funded around the United States.

At least 25 locations will provide treatment to patients.

Clinical trials of potential cancer treatments offered through the network will be open to anyone, but the focus will be on minority patients and those with less access to healthcare, according to Dr. Glenn Mills, Feist-Weiller director.

"I think breast cancer is an obvious (focus) in our state, both screening and treatment of it," he said. "Another big cancer problem we have in our state that we need to work on is colon cancer. Screening in both the African-American and rural populations is poor."

Mills expects the first clinical trial to start recruiting patients within a month but isn't sure what type of cancer it will target.

He believes the new network will help Feist-Weiller earn national recognition.

"We hope this will put on our way to us becoming a national cancer institute designated cancer center. There's only about 65 in the country. There's none within our region."

LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, LSU Health Shreveport and Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center applied for the grant jointly. The award among 12 of its kind funded around the United States.

Dr. Larry Hollier, chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, said the network will let patients get treatment closer to home, saving them money and time.

Leaders of the participating healthcare systems also expect a secondary economic boost from the network. They project an additional $10 million from pharmaceutical company participation in new biomedical and clinical research programs related to the network and more healthcare jobs.

"Expanded clinical trials will create jobs for physicians, nurses, health care personnel and researchers in Louisiana," said Dr. Steve Nelson, dean of the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine.